World of Tanks Art of Tanking Guide

World of Tanks Art of Tanking Guide by Crimson_Fart

We will try to keep this updated as more research and contributions from other fellow tankers are available.

Covering Fire

First lest define the term: the purpose of cover fire is to stop or prevent a target from observing, shooting or moving. Suppressive fire is not always a direct form of fire towards targets; it can be an effective visual and audible distraction. It is one of three types of fire support, which is defined by NATO as “the application of fire, coordinated with the manoeuvre of forces, to destroy, neutralize or suppress the enemy.”

By continuously shooting a target enemy under cover you prevent him or discourage from peeking out or moving out of cover, slowing down his advance, delaying the offensive and allowing your allies to reposition or get cover. If you are a low tier in a match that cant penetrate the enemy and are to slow to scout, your next best thing is to provide constant cover fire from long range. A enemy under fire makes mistakes!
Position yourself behind the front-line (behind the tanks directly engaging the enemy), preferably with a wide view angle of fire and concealment.

• Load HE shells
• Fire at target’s cover example the edge of the rock/building and keep it coming. It doesn’t matter if you hit or not just fire on the enemy position repeatedly.
• Fire at the ground behind cover with HE shells.
• If you have line of sight, ping and fire. You will disorient and give a chance to your front-line units to engage.
• If even HE cant penetrate or damage stop firing directly at him this will make him bolder, instead fire at the ground in front of him. Make him feel under pressure. When his side gets exposed try again at his tracks.
• When they start shooting at you, get to cover and relocate to another position. DON’T PEEK A BOO! they will have the spot marked and you wont get many shots out any more.

Tanking 101

• To use tactics on a battlefield, first structure is needed. Name the flanks north, south, hill… and the important choke points.
• That tip that shows on the loading screen that says, don’t interrupt an enemy when he is making a mistake, its impolite. Very true it means, if you see him poking his nose out of a bad cover don’t shoot him so he correct himself, wait for him to get comfortable and exposed out of cover then flag him and shoot. If he is rushing in the open let him get closer before you start shooting and miss giving away the surprise of a concentrated fire.
• Do not swallow bait offered by the enemy. This means don’t follow the scout that rushes past everyone then start retreating, only for half of your team to follow it out of cover and to its doom.
• DONT poke arround the corner when there is more than one enemy.
• If you are camping by yourself and spot a platoon moving, don’t start shooting as you know you will be spotted and quickly destroyed, instead ask for arty support by tagging them first and let the arty and your teammates rain some hell if they can, don’t run and turn your back to them you wont go very far, hit reverse in zigzag facing your opponent make them stop to shoot you so arty can have a clear shot at them. If or when they take cover relocate to a safe position you might get a few easy shots and delayed enough for your teammates to help.
• Bait, bait, bait.. it takes skill but you can taunt the enemy by sitting in corner with your cannon facing out (not at them) they will go around corner to take the easy shot on you, giving your teammates a clear shot to track him and pop him!
• The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain. If one flank fails and the other don’t, do not push for cap you would likely still face resistance capping while your enemy stomp your base, instead try to encircle them.
• The stronger men will be in front, the jaded ones will fall behind, and on this plan only one-tenth of your army will reach its destination. Do not send your heavys upfront and the meds hiding behind when they spot the enemy they will probably be exposed and flanked instead there should be a couple fast meds that can light the enemy before the heavys giving your main advance chance to reposition and engage.
• Standing on the defensive indicates insufficient strength; attacking, a superabundance of strength. Very important to attack a cap with artillery support make sure your arty have reach and is looking at the cap, you will probably face an entrenched enemy waiting for the first tank.
• To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself. Security against defeat implies defensive tactics; ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive.
• Thus we may know that there are some essentials for victory:
  • He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
  • He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
  • He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks. Dont be the looser that says “we are doomed”. Instead cheer the crowd to face this mighty enemy.
  • He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared. Wait for that first advance, usually in every game there is a group of early rushers, dont scatter at the biggining let them reveal the way they are going to be defeated. Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated. Hence the skillful fighter puts himself into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy.

Battle Flow
This are some notes from General Patton that apply on the game. they are some general pointers that a battle should follow to achieve victory.

Since warfare is a science, it is susceptible of more or less dogmatic treatment. Battle, on the other hand, is an art. Hence, he who tries to define it closely is a fool.

Firs stage
During this time the ground reconnaissance and the advance guard have both had ample opportunity to determine the contour of the hostile front and to locate his artillery, antitank guns. From the standing procedure, initially only four-ninths of the tanks moving into the first firing position (turret defilade wherever practicable), engage the enemy from a staggered line formation. This means don’t lemming the first, place yourself paralleled to him with enough space for him to back up and correct frontal angle.

Second Stage
Under the cover of this fire, probably opened at 300 yards, the artillery moves up and enters the fire fight. All this fire is concentrated on the enemy’s artillery and antitank guns. The leading elements of the tank destroyer units, from their positions on the flank, also engage in the fire fight with the same targets. If it is certain that your own rear is not in danger, the tanks which have heretofore been guarding the Flag have meanwhile joined the reserve tank units.

Third Stage
When sufficient dust and smoke have been developed or a partial fire superiority gained, the leading tanks advance to a nearer firing position. This move is accomplished by rushes of some of the tanks under the supporting fire of the remaining tanks, the artillery, and the tank destroyers supporting each other in steps. The new firing position is selected by the point unit. Whether the artillery displaces forward with each rush made by the tanks depends on the observation they can secure. But, certainly as the battle nears it’s climax, the artillery must be in line with the tanks. By a number of successive rushes, as described, the line is advanced to a point between one or two hundred meters from the enemy Flag. Sometime during this advance the support tanks (campers) of the leading units have joined the firing line, thus placing two-thirds of the tanks in the frontal attack.
As the fight progresses, the reserve tank unit guarding the flag should move out to encircle the enemy and attack him from the rear. When it is in position to make this attack, it should signal the front-line so that a synchronized assault may be executed.

Final Stage
The final assault from the front and rear is ordered. In this assault the tanks move rapidly forward to close with the enemy, while the enveloping tanks attack him from the rear. Rushing forward mop up and secure the spoils of victory.

I repeat that the foregoing description is a great generalization.
Again, it must be remembered that in a larger scale battle than that shown, one or more task forces will make the rear attack.
To go into further discussion here is futile; for as has been said, battle is an art and the commander, the artist, must paint his own picture.